Tuesday’s GHMC Council meeting saw a heated debate on the issues pertaining to sanitation, with several members expressing annoyance at the state of affairs. Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi surprised many by admitting the failure of the GHMC on the sanitation front.
Ms.Vijayalakshmi said she herself encountered instances of garbage piles on her tours in the city, and felt ashamed about it. “Several times, I had to call the officials, asking them to clear the garbage on roads. I am ashamed that the city is like this,” she said, responding to a question raised by BJP member Mandagiri Swamy.
Mr.Swamy had sought to know the duties of the city’s Municipal Solid Waste Management concessionaire agency Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (now rebranded as Re Sustainability Limited), and the persons responsible from the agency at zonal and circle levels.
In the pursuant debate, Mr.Swamy pointed out that clarity about sanitation is lacking after the secondary transportation was given out to the agency. Garbage is being cleared only twice a day, with trash piling up in the mean time due to open dumping after removal of blue bins across the city.
Other members, including MIM’s Majid Hussain and BJP’s Devara Karunakar, also too chimed in complaining about accumulation of garbage, with Mr.Hussain and MIM legislator Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri seeking additional sweeping units.
Ms.Vijayalakshmi said she will take the lead in constituting a committee with the corporators to take stock of the situation across the city, and work towards a permanent solution to the issue.
Additional Commissioner (Sanitation) Santhosh Badavath explained the concessionaire’s responsibilities, and spoke about the processing facility, which failed to satisfy the members.
While the members cutting across party lines asked pertinent questions about various issues, the answers from the officials were insufficient. Some queries did not elicit any response.
A query raised by BJP member Sravan Vurapalli about fewer food inspections went unanswered, and the member stayed on his feet holding a misbranded product throughout the second half of the session to bring the issue to the notice of the chair. Later, he expressed his protest while talking to the media outside the council hall.
M.Lachi Reddy from the BJP said property tax collection has gone down after introduction of self assessment system, and demanded that the system be scrapped in favour of manual collection.
Members raised several complaints against the Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management (EVDM) wing, which included one prominent issue about property owners being penalised for hanging ‘To-let’ signs outside their homes and commercial establishments. To this, EVDM director Viswajit Kampati responded stating that owners are entitled to put the sign on their respective properties, but not elsewhere.
With regard to commercial establishments, only one non-lighted sign board is permitted free of cost, and multiple boards will attract penalty.
Questions were raised about unauthorised structures compromising fire safety, in the context of the recent fire accident at a hotel in Secunderabad. A total 26 agenda items were passed.
The meeting witnessed some commotion when TRS member M.Kavitha Reddy, during her query, congratulated a few corporators who had defected from BJP to the ruling party. Members walked up to the podium, forcing Ms.Vijayalakshmi to announce a break.
Prior to the meeting, the BJP members staged a rally from Ambedkar’s statue seeking release of suspended legislator T. Raja Singh, while the Congress party members staged a protest seeking immediate payment of arrears due from the government.
